


Watson's Woes July 2020

by Pompey



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:54:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25140460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pompey/pseuds/Pompey
Summary: Our annual whumpage of Watson -- all verses, genres, lengths, and degrees of maturity.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Title: A Devil of a Time  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: Young Sherlock Holmes  
Rating: G  
Warnings: n/a  
Word count: 50  
Summary: “I accidentally turned on one of Waxflatter’s machines and, not being at all mechanically minded, had a devil of a time turning it off.” – Watson, Young Sherlock Holmes  
Prompt: July 1 – Sisyphus Engine #1, Creative Machine

Common knowledge says it is impossible to create a perpetual motion machine. That had not stopped Waxflatter from attempting it. His inventions all inevitably failed, I knew, but as I watched the whirling gears and clicking steel balls with growing dismay, I wondered if Waxflatter had indeed accomplished the impossible.


	2. July 2 - Man of the House

Title: The Husband’s Job  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: ACD  
Rating: G  
Warnings: none?  
Word count: 100  
Summary: Sometimes it sucks having to be the man of the house.   
Prompt: July 2 – phobia redux

Mary’s scream had brought him running. Upon seeing the reason for her scream, he calmly assured her he would deal with the situation and gently shooed her out of the room to spare her any further distress. As soon as the door closed behind her, though, Watson dropped his façade and stared down his loathsome nemesis scuttling across the floor. There was nothing else for it. Even with a rolled up newspaper, he was too far away. To kill the spider, he was going to have to get closer to it, no matter how much arachnids made his skill crawl.


	3. July 3 - Green Grow the Rushes

Title: Green Grow the Rushes  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: BBC Sherlock  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: none  
Word count: 100  
Summary: John has regained consciousness in many dangerous situations. This is yet one more.   
Prompt: July 3 - green  
________________________________________________________________  
Green. 

His vision was nothing but green. 

Slowly John blinked and focused. The blurry green solidified into hundreds of lacy leaves surrounding him. The tickling and chill air made him realize he was nearly naked, wearing nothing but boxer shorts and stalks of lacy-leaved plants, like some bizarre interpretation of Adam. 

The he noticed the purple flowers somewhat reminiscent of snapdragons. He knew these plants, thanks to Sherlock. Aconite. Monkshood. Wolfsbane. Deadly poison, no matter the name. So deadly that allegedly the poison could be absorbed right through the skin. John shivered and fervently hoped that it was only allegedly.


	4. July 4 - Good Deeds and Best Intentions

Title: Good Deeds and Best Intentions  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: Basil of Baker Street  
Rating: G  
Warnings: none  
Word count: 125  
Summary: Basil and Dawson try to do something nice for Mrs. Judson. It doesn’t end well.  
Prompt: July 4 - Hot July brings cooling showers, apricots and gillyflowers  
. . . . .

Basil and I had always planned to bring Mrs. Judson a sample of her favorite fruit at some point that July. The fact that our sitting room had been reduced to shambles during the capture of Big Bruce the Chinchilla Captain merely sped up our timeline. We set out the next day in search of a perfect apricot. 

One narrow escape from a broom, an unexpected rainstorm and a frantic dash from a terrier later, Basil and I huddled in a clump of clove pinks, nearly suffocating on the powerful, spicy-sweet scent of them. We had our prize but all our adventures had left it rather worse for wear. We could only hope Mrs. Judson would appreciate how close her apricot was to jam already.


	5. July 5 - Courage

Title: Courage  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: Basil of Baker Street  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: none?  
Word count: 100  
Summary: Dawson will face mortal peril if it means keeping Basil safe.   
Prompt: July 5 – cave photo  
____________________________________________________________________  
I could not stop my tail from twitching nervously as I stared into the hole. To a human, it might not have been very big but to a mouse it was a veritable cavern. And it was known to harbor snakes. Certainly there are no venomous snakes in England but that is of little comfort when one is a snake’s natural prey species. Yet it was this very hole that Basil had gone into alone and presumably unarmed.

It was this thought that finally gave me the courage to draw and cock my revolver and venture into the literal snake-pit.


	6. July 6 - Two-Thirty in the Bleeding Morning

Title: Two-thirty in the Bleeding Morning  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: ACD  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: none  
Word count: 200  
Summary: It’s the middle of the night and there is screaming on Baker Street.   
Prompt: July 6 - It's the middle of the night. Why is screaming coming from Baker Street?  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
I kept silent and assumed an appearance of abject guilt. I could not warn Holmes, but I trusted he had enough sense to do the same. After all, it was his objectionable violin solo at two in the morning which had woken me. I did not dispute my part in the current mess. However, if had Holmes not belligerently – and loudly -- defended his insensitive behavior, we would not have started the argument which in turn woke Mrs. Hudson. And, had Mrs. Hudson not been so rudely awakened, she would not have vented her spleen at us at full volume.

It was just about then that another voice from next door joined in the din, demanding to know what the fuss was all about when decent folk ought to be in bed and asleep. Almost immediately, yet another voice from newly-inhabited Camden House entered the fray, demanding that we all “shut yer gobs!” as it was “two-thirty in the bleeding morning!” 

I hazarded a glance at Holmes. His face remained nearly impassive although the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably. As for myself, I was in serious danger of choking on suppressed laughter at the farce we had descended into.


	7. July 7 - Bubble Sheets

Title: Bubble Sheets  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: Elementary  
Rating: G  
Warnings: none  
Word count: 125  
Summary: Joan Watson has filled out a loooooooooooot of bubble sheets in her life.  
Prompt: July 7 – ticky boxes  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Joan tucked a piece of hair back behind her ear and got to work. Female. American citizen. East Asian. Level of education . . . 

She had filled out so many bubble sheets in her life, all pertaining to education. The SATs. The study guides for the SATs. All those undergrad exams where the lecture hall capacity sat at 200. The MCAT. All the practice tests for the MCATs. All the medical school exams. All the study guides for the medical boards. The medical boards. 

All those practice tests for a licensure renewal exam that, in the end, she chose not to take. 

And now, licensure to become a private investigator. 

Joan took a deep breath and darkened the circle next to “post-graduate studies, completed.”


	8. July 8 - Common Name

Title: Common Name  
Author: Pompey  
Universe: Basil of Baker Street  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: use of unverified herbal lore  
Word count: 221B  
Summary: How can Basil help Dawson if he doesn’t know what medicine to use?   
Prompt: July 8 – flowers/plants  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
If we had been at Baker Street, I would have summoned Dr. Anderson. Even having Dawson’s medical bag here with us in Surrey would have been helpful. He had lost it in our frantic race to escape a hawk. Unfortunately, because of said hawk, he was also losing blood at an alarming rate.

I nipped a few blades of grass, curled them into pads, and pressed them against the deep punctures in Dawson’s back. Unsurprisingly, they were nearly useless. “The bleeding won’t stop,” I told him, panic rising.

“Woundwort,” he replied. 

“Woundwort,” I repeated, and paused. “What plant is that?” 

“It’s . . . woundwort,” Dawson said again, his words beginning to slur. “Nosebleed plant. Thousand-seal.” 

None of those names were helpful in the slightest. “Do you remember its Latin name?” 

He was quiet for a moment, long enough for me to truly worry. Then he mumbled, “Ach . . . Achill . . . Achillae . . .”

“Achillae? You mean yarrow!” I exclaimed in relief. I could see some stalks of yarrow not too far from us. “A plant with feathery leaves and many tiny, flat, white florets?” 

“Mmm hmm.” 

I scarcely waited to hear his confirmation before I ran. I would call that blessed plant by any name Dawson wished, so long as it could stop his bleeding.


End file.
